Doll eye and means pivoting the eye upon moving of its pivot axis within a plane



Nov. 18. 1969 J. H. WILHELM 3,478,465

DOLL EYE AND MEANS PIVOTING THE EYE UPON MOVING OF ITS PIVOT AXIS WITHINA PLANE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 19, 1964 A77bE/VEVS 3,478,465MOVING J. H. WILHELM Nov. 18. 1969 DOLL EYE AND MEANS PIVOTING THE EYEUPON OF ITS PIVOT AXIS WITHIN A PLANE 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 19,1964 FIG. 4

FIG.

INVENTOR. Jamv M4 #5444 Nov. 18. 1969 J. H. WILHELM 3,478,465

' DQLL EYE AND MEANS PIVOTING THE EYE UPON MOVING OF ITS PIVOT AXISWITHIN A PLANE Filed March 19, 1964 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 IN VENTOR.

JO/Y/V ,4. W14 #54 44 3,478,465 Patented Nov. 18, 1969 3,478,465 DOLLEYE AND MEANS PIVOTING THE EYE UPON MOVING OF ITS PIVOT AXIS WITHIN APLANE John H. Wilhelm, Newark, N..I., assignor to Marion Corporation,Newark, N.J., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Mar. 19, 1964, Ser. No.353,053 Int. Cl. A63h 3/40 US. Cl. 46-169 14 Claims This inventionrelates to movable, or so-called sleeping, doll eyes.

The prime object of my present invention is the provision of a movabledoll eye having the novel behavior or operation of remaining open orawake when the doll head is both in an erect or upright position and ina prone or lying down position (with face upward), and moves to a closedor sleeping condition when the doll head is moved to a prone andside-tilted position.

Conventional movable or sleeping doll eyes are constructed so that whenand as the doll head is moved from an erect or upright position to aprone or reclined position, the eyes respondingly move from an open to aclosed condition. This operation lacks somewhat of realism since it doesnot correctly simulate the natural behavior of a child being put to bed.In the movable doll eye of'the present invention, a fuller realism isimparted to the action of the doll by so constructing the mechanism ofthe doll eye that the doll may be laid down into its face upward lyingor prone position without causing the doll eyes to close, and so thatonly when the doll is then moved on its side, simulating a tenderness ofadding a further matter of comfort to impart or induce sleep, will thedoll eyes move to a closed or sleeping state. The structure isfurthermore such that as soon as the doll is moved from this supine andside-tilted position to any other position, the eyes will quickly comeawake by moving to an open condition.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing object and such other objects asmay hereinafter appear, the present invention relates to movable dolleyes as are more particularly sought to be defined in the appendedclaims, taken together with the following specification and theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view illustrating a doll head in erect position with apair of individual movable eyes of the present invention mountedtherein;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing in exploded condition thecomponents of one of the individual movable eyes of the presentinvention, with one part shown partly broken away;

FIG. 2A is a perspective view of one of the components, namely thehousing member, shown in FIG. 2, taken in section in the plane of theline 2A2A of FIG. 2;

FIG. 3 is a view in an enlarged scale with some of the parts shown insection and taken in the plane of the line 3-3 of FIG. 1, featuring theleft doll eye of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a view also shown in an enlarged scale, with some of the partsshown in section and taken in the plane of the line 44 of FIG. 1,featuring particularly the right doll eye of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a view of FIG. 3 with all the parts shown in section taken inthe plane of the line 55 of FIG. 3;

The said FIGS. 1 to 5 illustrate the position of the doll eyes in thedoll head with the doll head and eyes in their erect position, the dolleyes being then held in eye open condition; these views, however, alsoillustrate the position of the doll eyes in the doll head when the headand eyes are moved to a prone (lying down with face upward) position,the doll eyes being then also held in eye open condition, as may be seenby turning FIG. 3 to a lying down or prone position;

FIG. 6 is a front view illustrating the doll head of FIG. 1, when movedto a prone position, tilted, however, to lie on the left side of thedoll, the doll eyes being now shown in closed or sleeping condition;

FIG. 7 is a view shown in an enlarged scale, with some of the partsshown in section and taken in the plane of the line 77 of FIG. 6,featuring particularly the right doll eye of FIG. 7;

FIG. 8 is a view of FIG. 7, with some of the parts shown 1n sectiontaken in the plane of the line 8-8 of FIG. 7; FIG. 9 is a view shown inan enlarged scale, with some of the parts shown in section and taken inthe plane of the line 9-9 of FIG. 6;

It will be noted that the parts not shown in section in FIGS. 3, 4, and7 to 9 are the component parts of the eye member; and

FIGS. 10 to 12 are views of a modified structure of a doll eye of thepresent invention, of which FIG. 10 is a side elevational view of theeye member, FIG. 11 is a front view (looking into) a housing member forthe eye member, and FIG. 12 is a side elevational view of the housingmember.

Referring now more in detail to the drawings and having reference firstto FIGS 2 to 5 thereof, the doll eye assembly A of the present inventionshown inserted in and held by an eye socket s formed integrally in adoll head d, the latter made of a suitable resilient plastic materialsuch as a vinyl plastic, comprises the components separately shown inFIG. 2 of the drawings, namely an eye member E provided with a weight Wcontained in a housing H, the said housing comprising a back cover S inthe form of a housing shell and a front cover C. The eye member E issupported by being pivotally mounted in the housing H and moreparticularly in the back cover shell S for movement thereon about ahorizontal axis h between eye opened and eye closed positions; and theweight W is mounted on the eye member E for pivotal movement thereonabout a vertical axis v between a vertical pendant position (shown inFIGS. 2 to 5 of the drawings) and a side tilted position (assumed whenthe doll is moved to lie on one of its sides).

The eye member E comprises a preferably plastic shell molded in theshape best shown in FIG. 2 having a hemispherical body 10 provided witha simulated eye portion 12, oppositely positioned pivot trunnions 14,14, inwardly extending lug portions 16, 16 (acting as stops for the sidemovement of the weight W) and extensions 18, 18 which form pivot seatsfor the weight W When the latter is assembled to the eye member. The eyemember is also preferably provided with a lash member I assembledthereto.

The weight W comprises a metal piece configurated as best shown in FIG.2. formed with a weight mass 20, oppositely positioned trunnions 22, 22and an end portion 24 terminating in a piece 26 Which acts as a camfollower as will be hereinafter explained. The Weight W is assembled tothe eye member E positioning the trunnions 22 of the former in the pivotextensions 18 of the latter, the pivot extensions being staked over thetrunnions as best shown in FIGS. 2 and 4 of the drawings for securingthese parts in assembled condition, the weight being thereby mounted forfree pivoting on the eye member about a vertical axis.

The back cover shell S of the housing H, suitably molded from a hardplastic material, is configurated to provide at its open front pivotrecesses 28, 28 for receiving the pivot trunnions 14 of the eye member.At its rear the shell S is interiorly formed at its side with a wallportion 30 inclined as best shown in FIGS. 2A and 5 (to act as a camsurface as will be seen more particularly hereinafter) and at its bottomwith a substantially flat surface 32. The surfaces 30 and 32 meet closeto the vertical medial plane of the eye assembly.

The front cover C comprises a preferably metal shell configurated asbest shown in FIG. 2 of the drawings and is provided with an eye opening34 at its front and with a rear rim flange 36, which latter is seated inan annular groove at the front of the housing shell S in the assemblingof the front cover to the housing shell S. The front cover also aids insecuring the trunnions of the eye member E in their pivotal mounting inthe housing shell S.

The eye member E, the weight W and the interior configuration of thehousing shell S with the aforesaid provision of the side positionedinclined wall surface 30 and the bottom flat wall surface 32 are sointerrelated that the doll eyes are held or maintained in their opencondition when the doll head is held either in its erect or uprightposition or is moved from such position to a prone or reclined position(lying down with face upward) and so that only when the doll is thentilted (from its said prone position) to lie on its side will the dolleyes move to a closed or sleeping condition..Besides mounting the weightW for pivotal movement on the eye member E about a vertical axis,thereby permitting movement of the weight W from a vertical pendantposition shown in FIGS. 2 to 5 of the drawings to side-tilted positions(upon the side tilting of the doll head), the center of gravity of theweight W is located so that the eye member and weight are in a positionof nearly gravitational equilibrium when the eye member is in a supineposition. This may be seen by viewing FIG. 3 in a position with the dolllying in a prone position. With this construction when the doll head ismoved from a prone position to an upright position, the weight W,weighted as described, tends to move the eye member in a clockwisedirection. This tendency to such movement is, however, restrained bymeans associated with the housing shell S, the said means comprising theengagement of the bottom end 24 of the weight with the wall surface 32of the housing shell as is best seen viewing FIGS. 3 and 5 of thedrawings. When, however, the doll head is moved from its prone positionto a side tilted position, means associated with the housing shell S andcoacting with the weight W effects movement of the eye member to itsclosed position. Then the weight W moves about its vertical axis, and inso doing the cam follower portion 26 moves over the cam surface 30 ofthe shell S thereby causing the eye member to move to a closedcondition. This latter behavior is best understood by reference to FIGS.6 to 9 of the drawings, which latter will now be described.

FIG. 6 of the drawings depicts the position assumed by the doll headwhen after lying in a prone position, the doll head is then moved to lieon its left side, the doll eyes being now shown in their closed orsleeping condition. FIGS. 7 to 9 depict the action that has taken placein effecting the closing of the eyes as and when the doll head is movedto its supine and side-tilted position. Viewing FIG. 8 for example, inthis operation, the weight W in its movement from its vertical pendantto a side-tilted position is acted upon by the engagement of its camfollower end 26 with the cam surface 30 for moving the eye member E fromits held open condition to a closed condition, the cam follower 26 inthis motion being moved from the start region designated as x to the endregion designated as y.

Preferably the side cam surface and the bottom flat surface of thehousing shell S are formed on opposite sides of the shell S so that theshell may be employed without orientation; and for this purpose thesesurfaces are formed symmetrically about a plane p lying diagonally ofsaid shell as it is shown in FIG. 2A of the drawings. Thereby a secondset of surfaces are formed which are designated as 30 and 32 similar tothe surfaces 30 and 32. This extra set of cam and fiat surfaces formedin the housing shell S are seen particularly in FIGS. 7 to 9 of thedrawings.

The movable doll eye of the present invention may be made in variousforms and in the embodiment illustrated in the drawings the invention isshown applied to a so-called individual eye, that is an eye which isadapted to be mounted as an individual unit in the socket of a dollhead. This is illustrated particularly in FIGS. 4 and 7 of the drawingswhere separate eye assemblies A, A are shown mounted in the two socketss, s of a doll head.

In FIGS. 10 to12 of the drawings I show a modification of the eyeassembly of the invention in which cam surfaces are formed on each sideof the support housing for the eye member thereby producing aconstruction wherein movement of the doll head from a supine position toa side-tilted position on either side of the doll will produce thedesired operation of moving the doll eyes to a closed state orcondition.

Referring to FIGS. 10 to 12 of the drawings, the eye assembly comprisesan eye member E pivotally mountable in a housing shell S for movementtherein about a horizontal axis h between the eye opened position andthe eye closed position and a weight member W mounted on said eye memberfor pivotal movement thereon about a vertical axis v between a pendantposition (shown in FIG. 10) and side-tilted positions in either ofopposite directions, the shell S being formed at its rear with amedially arranged seat 38 and with oppositely directed cam surfacesprovided by the cam grooves 40 and 42. The eye member E with its weightW are mounted in the housing shell S in the same manner and by similarmeans as described in connection with FIGS. 1 to 9 of the drawings andthe assembly is also completed by a front cover (not shown) similar tothat heretofore described.

In this modification of FIGS. 10 to 12 the Weight W is provided with aweight mass 20" and with a terminal cam follower 26, the cam followercoacting with the central seat 38 and the cam grooves 40 and 42 in theoperation of the assembly. As in the structure already described, thecenter of gravity of the weight W is located so that the eye member andweight are in a position of nearly gravitational equilibrium when theeye member is in a supine position thereby holding the eye in its opencondition. When the eye assembly is moved from this supine position toan erect position (FIG. 10), the cam follower 26' located in the seat 38provides the means which acts against the gravitational influence ofsaid weight for restraining movement of said weight and thereby holdingthe eye member in its open condition. When with the eye member in itssupine position it (the doll head) is tilted to either side so that thedoll head lies either on its left side or right side, the cam follower26 actuated by the gravitational influence of the weight W moves ineither the cam groove 40 or 42 (whichever the case may be) and therebythe eye member E is moved to a closed condition. This construction thusprovides for two cam sections in the housing shell, one on each side ofa vertical medial plane of the eye member or shell.

The structure, operation and functioning of the movable doll eye of thepresent invention and the advantages secured therewith will, it isbelieved, be fully apparent from the above detailed description of theembodiments thereof. A full realism of doll eye movement from an awaketo a sleeping condition is imparted to the action of a doll by theconstructed mechanism of the doll eye. With this construction a doll maybe laid down into its face upward lying or prone position withoutcausing the doll eyes to close since in that position the weight W is inits nearly equilibrium state as it best seen from viewing FIG. 3 of thedrawings. When the doll is in its erect position or is moved from alying down prone position to an erect position, the doll eye isconstrained against pivotal movement in the housing by the engagement ofthe end 24 (and the cam follower 26) of the weight W with a part such asthe surface 32 of the housing shell S. When, however, the doll head ismoved to a supine (prone) and side-tilted position, the weight W by theriding engagement of its cam follower 26 with the shell cam surface 30causes the doll eye to move to a closed condition as is best seen fromFIGS. 6 to 9 of the drawings. In the first form of the invention (FIGS.1 to 9) this movement of the eyes to a closed condition is attained bymoving the doll head on its left side. In the form of the inventionshown in FIGS. 10 to 12 this is attained by moving the doll head toeither its right or its left side. The construction is furthermore suchthat as soon as the position of the doll head is changed as by movingthe doll to a face upward prone position or by lifting the doll, theeyes will quickly move to and assume their full awake and opencondition. 7

It will be apparent that many changes may be made in the construction ofthe doll eyes of the present invention without departing from the spiritof the invention defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A doll eye assembly comprising a support, an eye member pivotallymounted on said support for pivotal movement thereon about a horizontalaxis between eye open and closed conditions, a Weight pivotally mountedon said eye member for pivotal movement relative to said eye memberabout a vertical axis between a vertical pendant position and aside-tilted position, means associated with said support for restrainingsaid pivotal movement of the eye member when the eye member is movedbetween positions corresponding to erect and supine positions, of a dollequipped with said assembly, and means associated with said support, andcoacting with said weight for effecting movement of the eye member toits closed condition when the eye member is moved to a supine andsidetilted position.

2. A doll eye assembly comprising a support, an eye member pivotallymounted on said support for pivotal movement thereon about a horizontalaxis between eye open and closed conditions, a weight pivotally mountedon said eye member for pivotal movement relative to said eye memberabout a vertical axis between a vertical pendant position and aside-tilted position, the center of gravity of said weight being locatedso that the eye member is held in its open condition when the eye memberis in a supine position, is under the gravitational influence of theweight when the eye member is in an erect position and when the eyememberis in a side-tilted position, means associated with said supportactive against the gravitational influence of said weight forrestraining said pivotal movement of said weight and thereby holding theeye member in its open condition when the eye member is in its erectposition, and means associated with said support coacting with saidweight in its movement to a supine side-tilted position for effectingmovement of said eye member to closed condition when the eye member ismoved to supine and side-tilted position.

3. A doll eye assembly comprising a support, an eye member pivotallymounted on said support for pivotal movement thereon about a horizontalaxis between an eye open condition and an eye closed condition, a weightpivotally mounted on said eye member for pivotal movement relative tosaid eye member about a vertical axis between a vertical pendantposition and a side-tilted position, the center of gravity of saidweight being located so that the eye member and weight are in a positionof nearly gravitational equilibrium when the eye member is in a supineposition thereby holding the eye in its open condition, means associatedwith said support active against the gravitational influence of saidweight for restraining said pivotal movement of said weight and therebyholding the eye member in its open condition when the eye member is inits erect position, and means associated with said support located at aside of the eye member coacting with said weight in its movement fromits vertical pendant to a side-tilted position for eflFecting movementof said eye member to closed condition when the eye member is moved tosupine and side-tilted position.

4. The doll eye assembly of claim 1 wherein said support comprises ahousing member for the eye member, the means for restraining pivotalmovement of the eye member comprises a part ofsaid housing memberlocated to engage a part of said weight, and the means for effectingmovement of the eye member to its closed condition comprises a cam partlocated at the tilted-side of the eye member over which a part of saidweight is adapted to ride for effecting said movement of the eye member.

5. The doll eye assembly of claim 4, in which the said cam partcomprises two cam section, one on each side of a vertical medial planeof said eye member.

6. The doll eye assembly of claim 2 wherein said doll eye assembly is anindividual movable eye, said support comprises a housing for the eyemember, the first mentioned means comprises a part of said housingmember located to engage a part of said weight, and the second mentionedmeans comprises a cam part located at the tilted-side of the eye member.

7. The doll eye assembly of claim 3 wherein said support comprises ahousing shell, the first mentioned means comprises a part of said shellat the bottom thereof engageable with a part of said weight, and thesecond mentioned means comprises a part of said shell having a cam facelocated at the tilted-side of the eye member.

8. The doll eye assembly of claim 7 wherein the housing shell isstructured symmetrically about a plane lying diagonally of said shell.

9. An eye for a toy, said eye comprising a shell, an eye memberpivotally mounted therein, and means within the shell for pivoting themember from an open position to a closed position as the pivotal axis ismoved in a plane through an angle of from a horizontal position to avertical position.

10. An eye as defined in claim 9 wherein said means comprises a surfaceon the interior of the shell making an angle with the pivotal axis andweight mean bearing on said surface and member.

11. An eye as defined in claim 9 wherein said means comprises a camsurface integral with the interior of the shell and making an angle withthe pivotal axis and weight means bearing on said surface and member.

12. An eye for a toy, said eye comprising a shell, an eye member, meanspivotally mounting the member in the shell, and means reacting betweenthe shell and member for pivoting the member from an open position whenthe pivotal axis is horizontal to a closed position when the axis ismoved in a plane through 90 to a vertical position.

13. An eye as defined in claim 12 wherein the reacting means comprises acam surface in the shell and Weight means 'bearing on said surface andreacting against the member.

14. A head for a toy having a pair of eyes pivotally mounted therein forpivotal movement about parallel axes and means mounting the eyes in thehead for independent movement, means for moving the eyes from an openposition when the axes are horizontal to a closed position as the axesare moved in a plane through an angle of 90 to a vertical position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,290,967 1/1919 Gerberg.1,343,422 6/ 1920 Thomson. 1,910,911 5/1933 Wilhelm 46-169 2,022,286 11/1935 Henry 46169 F. BARRY SHAY, Primary Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No 3,478 ,465 November 18 1969John H. Wilhelm It is certified that error appears in the aboveidentified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected asshown below:

In the heading to the printed specification, lines 5 and 6, MarjonCorporation" should read Margon Corporation Signed and sealed this 6thday of April 1971.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. WILLIAM E. SCHUYLER, JR Attesting OfficerCommissioner of Patents

1. A DOLL EYE ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A SUPPORT, AN EYE MEMBER PIVOTALLYMOUNTED ON SAID SUPPORT FOR PIVOTAL MOVEMENT THEREON ABOUT A HORIZONTALAXIS BETWEEN EYE OPEN AND CLOSED CONDITIONS, A WEIGHT PIVOTALLY MOUNTEDON SAID EYE MEMBER FOR PIVOTAL MOVEMENT RELATIVE TO SAID EYE MEMBERABOUT A VERTICAL AXIS BETWEEN A VERTICAL PENDANT POSITION AND ASIDE-TILTED POSITION, MEANS ASSOCIATED WITH SAID SUPPORT FOR RESTRAININGSAID PIVOTAL MOVEMENT OF THE EYE MEMBER WHEN THE EYE MEMBER IS MOVEDBETWEEN POSITIONS CORRESPONDING TO ERECT AND SUPINE POSITIONS, OF A DOLLEQUIPPED WITH SAID ASSEMBLY, AND MEANS ASSOCIATED WITH SAID SUPPORT, ANDCOACTING WITH SAID WEIGHT FOR EFFECTING MOVEMENT OF THE EYE MEMBER TOITS CLOSED CONDITION WHEN THE EYE MEMBER IS MOVED TO A SUPINE ANDSIDETILTED POSITION.